Gilead Lab scientists have revealed that the antiviral medication remdesivir showed “positive data” in their Phase 3 clinical trials among coronavirus patients.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases revealed that hospitalized patients with advanced coronavirus who received remdesivir recovered faster than similar patients who were placed on placebos.
Pulmonary and critical care specialist Dr. Sharon Chinthrajah of Stanford Medicine said: “While we are waiting for a vaccine, this is something that allows us to better fight this disease. It is the first step,
“It tells us: We may be able to make a change in the disease trajectory if you become hospitalized,”
According to the drug trials, patients who were placed on remdesivir recovered faster than those who were receiving normal antiviral drugs. The median time to recovery was 11 days for patients treated with remdesivir compared with 15 days for those who received a placebo.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) said that the drug seems to have a “clear-cut positive effect” on “diminishing the time to recover.”
Fauci told reporters: “Although a 31 percent improvement doesn’t seem like a knockout 100 percent, it is a very important proof of concept because what it has proven is that a drug can block this virus,”
Senior WHO official Michael Ryan declined to weigh in on the latest findings Wednesday, saying he had not reviewed the complete study.
“We are all hoping — fervently hoping — that one or more of the treatments currently under observation and under trial will result in altering clinical outcomes” and reducing deaths, he said.
President Donald Trump seems to be very optimistic about the drug because he wants the Food and Drug Administration to move “as quickly as they can” to approve Gilead Sciences’ antiviral drug remdesivir as a treatment for the coronavirus.
“We would like to see very quick approvals, especially with things that work,” he said at a roundtable at the White House with business executives Wednesday evening.